Memory Lives
by Diana Alexander
Summary: Some anniversaries are better celebrated alone


DISCLAIMER: Characters from the television show, The X-Files,  
that are contained in this piece of fiction are the property of  
Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Broadcasting. The  
characters of Elizabeth Mulder and Raine Austin are the property  
of the author, Diana Alexander.   
RATING: G   
CLASSIFICATION: VA   
SPOILERS: None   
FEEDBACK: always welcome at dmulder@flashmail.com  
SUMMARY: Some anniversaries are better celebrated alone.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story takes place some time after a story  
in progress by the name of "Heirs to the Quest," though it's not  
necessary to read that to understand that (thank goodness, since  
it won't be finished for some time). I forgot to post it, and so  
I'm doing that now. Enjoy.  
  
**********************  
Memory Lives  
By: Diana Alexander  
dmulder@flashmail.com  
**********************  
  
**February 28, 2034**  
  
Elizabeth Mulder slowly crossed the graveyard, each step placing  
its individual weight on her soul. In that moment, she felt as  
though she was tossed back in time, to her parents wedding day  
over forty years ago. It felt almost as though she were her  
mother's bridesmaid, walking in front of the woman who would  
willingly share her life with Fox Mulder's quest, and her heart  
with the man himself.  
  
The way she was walking then greatly resembled the beat of the  
wedding ceremony, and she was carrying flowers. Hmm, maybe it  
was her own wedding, then, Elizabeth mused with a wistful smile.  
Finally, after searching for an eternity, she found the graves,  
as forgotten as the dynamic duo that were her parents often were.  
  
Hiking the long skirt up slightly, she tugged the weeds away from  
the tombstones. It had been two years since the plane crash that  
had stolen two of the more brillant minds from the FBI and the  
first among a select few who truly respect her, and the only ones  
who know how to love her while setting her free to be who she's  
meant to be.  
  
She remembers Dana Scully's laughing smile while ruffling the  
once waist-length chestnut brown hair she had while she was a  
teenager. She remembers Fox Mulder's understanding smile when  
she was so frustrated over being misunderstood by almost everyone  
she encountered.  
  
They are gone now, leaving Elizabeth as the heir to everything  
they had. Their truth and their quest were taken up like it had  
always been hers. Maybe it had been. Maybe they held the hope  
that this would make it better for her generation, and that was  
why they did it.  
  
However, Elizabeth knew her mother and father too well to know  
that to be truth. They did it because they had to, and because  
it could be no other way. She reached out and traced the  
stylized ampersand on the joint tombstone as the rain-soaked wind  
forced her shoulder length hair into her eyes and mouth.  
  
On the joint tombstone their names are inscribed, when they were  
born and died, and the words The Truth for her father, and The  
Light for her mother, joined by that same stylized ampersand that  
she found herself still tracing. Slowly she placed the red and  
white flowers in the vase atop the joint tombstone and rose  
slowly.  
  
She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of the rain pounding  
down on her, soaking her hair and clothes so they clung to her  
like a second skin. For the second year in a row, there was a  
major storm system going through the Washington DC area on the  
anniversary of the day they had died in the horrible plane crash.  
  
'Hell, it would not surprise me if they are the cause of the  
storm systems,' Elizabeth thought to herself as she straightened  
her clothes and headed back to her car. 'At least that way they'd  
be remembered.'  
  
The wind whistled through her ears as it whirled around her. She  
heard laughter in that wind, and when she opened her eyes, she  
saw the laughing forms of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder standing  
before her, looking as young as they had looked on the day they  
were wed.  
  
As long as there are people working the quest, Elizabeth, we'll  
be remembered, the calm rational voice of her mother echoed  
through Elizabeth's head. We will *always* be remembered.  
  
And if we aren't, her father responded. Then it is for the  
best. It has taken a long time to learn that some truths are  
better hidden.  
  
"And truth lives as long as there is someone there to remember  
it."  
  
And as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone. Elizabeth  
made her way home, and looked forward to getting into some warm  
clothes and curling up with her and Raine Austin's newest X-File,  
for as long as there were X-Files, the memory lived.  
  
**********************  
  
-End- 


End file.
